I’ve been renting videos and DVDs since videotapes first came on the scene, starting with the $5-7/overnight rentals with draconian late fees of the early generation of video rental all the way to now being a long-time NetFlix member, so it should be no surprise I was intrigued when I saw a DVD rental kiosk at the local gas station yesterday.
Upon closer examination,the attractive kiosk proved to be run by Redbox Corporation and it had a simple system where you could swipe your credit card and rent any one of a number of current release DVDs for only $1 a night.
But it wasn’t until I visited their Web site that I knew why this company is one to watch, and why agile little Redbox is going to redefine the entire world of DVD rental…

It turns out that Redbox is a wholly-owned subsidiary of McDonald’s Corporation, which was a delightful surprise: while McDonald’s might not be where I personally go for something to eat, I certainly recognize that it’s an omnipresent company with a remarkable reach into both our society and culture. Who better to tilt at the windmill of traditional DVD rental than a multi-billion dollar mainstay of the corporate world beloved by millions of people?

In the interest of doing some research, today I went to the local McDonald’s — they have a Redbox kiosk in the store — and rented two movies.
I was impressed with the entire experience.
First off, there are limitations to the Redbox approach to rentals, not the least of which is that I’d estimate that the unit has no more than about 50 titles, total, and there’s certainly a chance that the movie you seek would be unavailable since its reliance on physical disks means that there’s a finite number of any given movie. (You can see what’s in the kiosk right now on their current releases page)
The upside is amazing, though. For a paltry $1/day you can rent movies and return them to any other Redbox kiosk. This means that if there’s a participating McDonald’s on both ends of your next plane flight, train trip or other long journey, you need just add 10-15 minutes to your travel time to grab a couple of newly released DVDs, watch them on your flight, then drop them off on the way to your hotel. That will definitely kick the legs out from under the airport-based (expensive) DVD rental companies.
Even more interesting is the potential impact on companies like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video because one of the main costs of running a rental store is the square footage: if you could have the entire store automated and have a simple kiosk delivering up the individual films, you could theoretically offer thousands of popular movies in a fraction of the real estate. Less overhead = lower prices or higher margins. (Meanwhile, Blockbuster and Hollywood Video still require that you return your rental to the same outlet you rented it, a ridiculous limitation in this day of high-speed pervasive networking and highly automated systems0
Just for a moment, also imagine what it would be like if the Redbox kiosks could produce self-destructing DVDs (e.g., 72-hour DivX, for example) as an option so you wouldn’t even have to bother returning them. Now it’s just a matter of hard disk space within the kiosk computer: the system could foreseeably have a library of tens of thousands of movies, erasing one limitation of the system. Since you’d never have to return them, they can be less pervasive too: $1 for a regular DVD or, say, $2.50 for a self-destructing DVD would be a lovely set of options.
If Redbox never goes any further than having kiosks primarily in McDonald’s restaurants throughout the United States and never has more than 50-75 newly released titles, though, I still predict it will be the kind of success that will shake up the rental industry.
If you rent DVDs, do yourself a favor and check out Redbox and you’ll have a glimpse of the future of DVD rental.

58 comments on “The next evolutionary step in DVD rentals: Redbox”

I’ve been using Redbox for over a year, mainly because there’s a McDonald’s just two blocks from my house, and which is closer than any other video rental place. The selection is limited, but I’ve found myself more than once renting a mediocre movie because, hey, it’s only a dollar! I think they also hope it attracts customers for their, uh, food. I occasionally uby a milkshake or sundae; it’s very unlikely I would’ve done that if not for the Redbox “bait.”

The first thing I thought when reading this was: “that’s a brilliant way to get people to McDonald’s.” Then I read Derek’s comment. Indeed, this is a great one-two punch: make some money on the rentals, then make even more selling food/snacks to customers who may not have come there otherwise.

Love the idea, but the limited selection is a heavy, heavy, drawback, unless you are the sort that doesn’t care what you are watching. What person is going to watch that movie where Vin Diesel is the babysitter? That’s the kind of titles I found when I went for my first Redbox shopping experience.

I was very impressed by RedBox here in SLC, which is undergoing a major rollout. I don’t like the ones that are actually located INSIDE the McDonald’s though. That’s certainly less of an issue with their new “open late” policies though.

I have been using Redbox for over 10 months now. We only have one in the area, but it is located at our grocery store wich is great cause we already go there atleast once a week. My family is hooked on Redbox. I’ve never had a problem at all and we rent about once a week. The issue of available titles has never bothered me. since we don’t go to the theater very much new releases keep us entertained. If anyone from McDonald’s or Redbox reads this…PLEASE put more locations in Connecticut. I’m Lovin It!
TK

I, too, have been visiting Redbox here in SLC for quite some time. I love being able to get the new releases for a buck.
Since I visit the Redbox so often, I have put up a new website/blog dedicated to it. There you will find news, updates, experiences and more regarding Redbox…
And, even more importantly, you will find Promo Codes that will make sure you can get a free rental every once in awhile.
Check out the site at: http://www.insideRedbox.com
Michael

I’m so glad I found you’re blog, I’ll have to add it to my daily-reads list.
Anyawy, you wrote this post almost a year ago. At this point, Redbox is blowing up all over the US. They are continuing to sign deals with groceries, drug stores, etc.
The best thing about it is that you can get free codes by visiting the Redbox Codes website: http://www.redboxcodes.com
Happy Renting Everyone!

How come Redbox or Dvdxpress don’t have more locations in big cities like NYC? It seems so logical that concentrating their investments here as opposed to say, Minneapolis, would produce a much higher return on investment.
Love to hear your thoughts.

Redbox is simple and easy. You walk up, check for what you want and rent. All for a $1.00 and then buy a burger for a $1.00. If McDonald’s had a tv/dvd table I’d have a date, a movie and a meal. Just kidding, great concept.

I have rented dvds using netflix, blockbuster and now redbox. I stopped using netflix because of their “throttling,” and switched to blockbuster when it was possible to turn in the mailed dvds to obtain dvds right at the bb location. A great advantage over netflix I think. I still use bb online, getting older movies I’m interested in. I get up to three movies, which is sometimes enough to trade for new releases. But I’ve been using redbox in conjunction with bb. I copy all the movies; now have a library of thousands of titles and have saved thousands of dollars. I rent and copy an average of about 12-15 movies each week (for my own benefit, not for resale). Now that blank dvds are about 30 cents each and the rental is relatively cheap I don’t have to worry about what I will do during my retirement years.

I “took the bait” and went to McD’s to investigate RedBox. What a concept!! I’ve been an owner of McD’s common stock for over twenty years and I’m pleased with its performance. However, I am thrilled to learn that RedBox is owned by McD’s. I’m thinking that’s going to bolster the value of their stock for years to come. X-cllent!! BTW: when we were there to investigate the RedBox, we found the system SO comfortable and simple that we had to rent a couple (and buy some food and ice cream). Obviously, the bait worked and I think and hope it will for a very long time. Everybody: Eat more McD’s !!!

It’s important to point out that RedBox units are in other locations besides McDonald’s. I first saw one of the RedBox kiosks at our local Wal Mart about a month or two ago, and we’ve used it to rent a few videos. Very convenient, super easy, and the price can’t be beat, although it’s matched by Amazon.com’s UnBox service for selected titles (most are about $4, but they have a rotating 99-cent collection which often has good titles). What RedBox should do is follow Amazon’s lead…have auto-expiring videos available for on-demand download, but add a bonus so that if you watch the video in the first day, you’re only charged $1. If you watch it within two days, $2, and so on. There should probably be a cap on this so it doesn’t exceed rental prices from other vendors, and still have a maximum time period in which to watch the video. So while RedBox is certainly the benchmark for for physical DVD rentals in terms of price and convenience, I’m still looking for online video-on-demand to mature a bit. Amazon’s service is heading in the right direction, but chances are someone else will come along with a better setup. Wonder who that will be? Hmmm….

Hi, I have a problem I have misplaced the cover of the movie to return it to the box and now I am stuck with the movie and I would like to return it so how can I do this?? Please send me a e-mail telling what to do. Thank you

I thought Redbox was pretty cool until the one time I couldn’t return the DVD. The machine kept spitting it back out and saying there was a problem, although I had loaded it correctly and the bar code didn’t get wet or destroyed. I called their customer service center several times and left messages, since apparently they don’t have enough live operators to help customers. Their voice mail said I would get a call back within 24 business hours, and it’s been over 2 weeks and I’ve yet to actually talk to somebody. I guess I’m going to end up owning the stupid DVD. I’m going back to Netflix, where I’ve never had a single problem and pay less for unlimited DVDs (3 at a time) than I paid with Redbox – we’d rent 3 or 4 DVDs at a time and end up keeping them for a few days each because it was so easy to forget to return them. I think Redbox depends on the convenience – or lack of – with their customers driving out to return the DVDs within a day, to boost their profits. I was willing to accept that and still found it quite convenient, until this problem. The lack of customer service is unforgivable, and I will not be renting any more DVDs from Redbox in the future.

I tried to return my daughter’s DVD rental back to Redbox and jammed the machine. Come to find out Redbox customer service says I did not rent this particular DVD title.
With several phones phone calls to both Redbox and The New Release come to find out I returned a The New Release kiosk DVD to Redbox. So I made a mistake! Big deal, so welcome me to the human race! I have strong suggestion to both kiosk businesses. Upgrade your software to eject any unrecognized DVD! By the way, test it a few times and make sure it works!

Here in Phoenix most of the Walgreen’s have Redbox units. I have seen them for at least six months and had been curious. I finally rented a couple of movies two weeks ago and thought that this was a great concept! I too had been a Netflix customer for years but got tired of the “long wait” for all the movies I wanted to rent. We used Redbox several more times until tonight when the Redbox unit I went to was down due to technical difficutlies. The problem is that I rented five movies and they are due by 9:00 P.M. It was 8:55 when I got to this Walgreen’s. So now I’m out an extra $5.00 becaue of their problem? I don’t like the money coming out of my account and I have no control over that. I went from loving Redbox to I won’t ever use it again in a three week period.

strangely enuff i’ve known nothing but good from these little machines … to the point … i rented a movie i never took back … got charged the 25.50 for it … 2 months later my GF finds it and takes it back on her way to work … ..and they gave me a dollar back …
its just to sad not to laugh!!

I have rented about 4 or 5 times from Redbox. I like the convenience, however it tends to carry many B movies that are a waste. Name brands a good deal, otherwise don’t waste your money. Unless you know trust the company or know the title, don’t waste your money.

I used the REDBOX in front of the McDonalds for my 1st time EVER in Kansas City,MO. on Prairie View Rd/Barry Road & it was very simple to use.UNFORTUNATELY, when I returned the movie in LESS THAN 24 hrs(before the 7pm deadline the following day) I was charged an extra $1 fee that’s pending on my debit card account ! I’m VERY DISSATISFIED & plan on contacting someone today on this matter ! I know it’s only $1, but I followed the guidelines advised & if this happens to multiple people (as I see this happening),there may start being lawsuits,etc. & I’m sure McDonalds would NOT want the publicity about this ! I will be driving up there today to discuss my complaint with them & if THEY’RE WISE about it-they will resolve these issues or they will NEVER get business (food or otherwise) from me & many family members & friends I will discuss this with !!! Word of mouth does ALOT for a company’s business, so they better be aware of these issues & START taking some action to CORRECT these ISSUES !!!

Just rented 3 movies at my local SaveMart RedBox in San Jose. Returned them the following day. Got email confirmation that they were received. Viola! 3 movies, $3.24, no hassles. And now, since you can rent on-line, you don’t even have to go to the kiosk to be disappointed they have nothing good. You pick and reserve before even walking out the door. This is a great service the occasionally DVD renter that doesn’t want yet another monthly fee (i.e. Netflix or Blockbuster) to have to pay.

The key to Redbox being a good deal for you, is that you have to have one on your way to work (or, basically within walking distance to your hosue). If you drive by the red box every day anyway to go to work, then this service is fantastic. We have about 10 boxes in my city, 2 on my way to work, so I am golden. The points about the limited selection don’t apply I don’t think because they focus on new releases. If you want a back title, go to another spot. I pretty much only rent new releases, on the day they come out (Tuesday) and you can lock in your pick if you do it online. Good bye Blocksbuster online rental…you were great while it lasted, but you are too much money $15.00 per month, compared to Redbox. I don’t rent 15 movies a month, so I am switching to Red box. The key here is though you should only rent when you know for sure you are going to be able to watch it and return it by 9pm the next day. Again, going out of your way to return it does not make the financial equation work in your favor (due to the cost of gas), so this is why it’s key that you do it on your way to and from work.

For those asking HOW TO BUY and invest into a Redbox DVD Kiok:
Redbox does not sell its DVD kiosks to 3rd parties. It places them corporately into various major retailers and operates them directly.
However the DVD Kiosk industry has grown very rapidly in the last 2 years; and includes additional major companies who operate advanced DVD Kiosks like Redbox.
Small investors can buy DVD Kiosk solutions from a few companies like:http://www.iMOZI.com
I hope that you find the information useful to your review of this business…

If the RedBox machine fails to register a DVD return, it will charge you for every day until the video is rented again! This is debited from your card and good luck trying to get your money back! I will never rent from RedBox again – it’s next to impossible to get through on their 866 number and then customer service is powerless or they respond with sarcastic emails.
-Betty

I completly agree with the above blog, and when you call their “customer service” they are rude and condesending. We will never ever use Redbox again and we will let everyone we know how they treat customers.
-Eddie

I hope that Redbox’s programmers are reading these comments. They need to fix the bad bugs now! These comments contain some very good debugging suggestions for the Redbox programmers. There are some very good suggestions for additional features also. Redbox is a good first effort at automated DVD retail, but it looks like they have a lot of problems to work out first. Of course the next generation of automated DVD kiosk should be able to give the customer unlimited titles to choose from. This would require some kind of high speed download capabilities probably with prioritized local buffering of popular titles.

I’ve been very satisfied with Redbox. My only tip is to avoid renting or returning movies close to the 9pm deadline because you can wait for a while!
My children are thrilled because they get to see great movies and I’m thrilled because the rental fees fit into our budget.

i use the Redbox next to my house at the local Walmart.
All the people complaining about this extra dollar that they charged, even when returning it within one day, look at the screen when you rent: it puts a $1.00 charge to your account to ensure you can cover costs, then debits it back in 3-14 days.
Redbox is good.

Absolutely rip off, misleading! Their customer service is HORRIBLE! They are trained to say nothing but NO! You think it is convenient,a better deal etc. They say first “there is absolutely no late fee” then they add “we will charge you for each night!” They almost have only 10 movies available and you have to wait for a long time if you have someone in front of you! Why would anyone want to go this far to rent a movie that may be available? And then hurry up and return it. You can get so many of them from Netflix, Blockbuster in 1-2 days.

I understand the convenience of Redbox and think they have a promising future in the rental business. I do however appreciate the “brick and mortar” business like a Family Video (based out of Springfield, Illinois with almost 600 stores in the US). At a place like Family Video you can get free kids movies and they have over 3000 titles where you can get 2 of them for 1 dollar. The new releases rent for 2.59 for 5 nites! That beats 1 dollar per night from Redbox. Just a little extra effort proves to be worth the walk in the store. Everyone at Family Video is always very friendly and always willing to help you with any issue you may find whether it be late fees, a disc that didn’t work or special orders. Again, Redbox has a great convenience based business model however in my opinion you can’t beat actual customer service…I always appreciate being able to speak with a real person!

these losers told me yesterday they never had any problems like this i rented 2 dvds returned them and now after being charged $52.44 they still cant find the movies but will give me 26.22 of my money back to resolve the matter but my bank overdrafted me twice a total of 70.00 so they offered me 26.22 for 122.44 this mix up has cost me some body has got to do something this is bull they take our credit card or debit card and do whatever they want and tell us they will give back barely a fourth of our cost
Dave Taylor at July 19, 2005 9:38 PM
THE STUPID REDBOX CHARGED ME $1.07 AND I ENTERED A FREE DVD CODE FROM MCDONALDS COUPON.
Posted by: LYNN on June 26, 2007 8:30 AM Posted by: gary on June 26, 2007 7:51 PM
Gary, i hate to be the one to break it to ya… but thats still illegal in America.
Posted by: Justin on August 12, 2007 Posted by: latrice on August 13, 2007 9:25 AM
the commie thief redbox charged for 2 extra days. i played this movie twice in 1 day.
Posted by: david collins on August 20, 2007 3:37 PM
I thought Redbox was pretty cool until the one time I couldn’t return the DVD. The machine kept spitting it back out and saying there was a problem, although I had loaded it correctly and the bar code didn’t get wet or destroyed. I called their customer service center several times and left messages, since apparently they don’t have enough live operators to help customers. Their voice mail said I would get a call back within 24 business hours, and it’s been over 2 weeks and I’ve yet to actually talk to somebody. I guess I’m going to end up owning the stupid DVD. I’m going back to Netflix, where I’ve never had a single problem and pay less for unlimited DVDs (3 at a time) than I paid with Redbox – we’d rent 3 or 4 DVDs at a time and end up keeping them for a few days each because it was so easy to forget to return them. I think Redbox depends on the convenience – or lack of – with their customers driving out to return the DVDs within a day, to boost their profits. I was willing to accept that and still found it quite convenient, until this problem. The lack of customer service is unforgivable, and I will not be renting any more DVDs from Redbox in the future.
Posted by: Kristin on September 11, 2007 10:22 AM
I tried to return my daughter’s DVD rental back to Redbox and jammed the machine. Come to find out Redbox customer service says I did not rent this particular DVD title.
Posted by: Steve on September 20, 2007 11:32 AM
Here in Phoenix most of the Walgreen’s have Redbox units. I have seen them for at least six months and had been curious. I finally rented a couple of movies two weeks ago and thought that this was a great concept! I too had been a Netflix customer for years but got tired of the “long wait” for all the movies I wanted to rent. We used Redbox several more times until tonight when the Redbox unit I went to was down due to technical difficutlies. The problem is that I rented five movies and they are due by 9:00 P.M. It was 8:55 when I got to this Walgreen’s. So now I’m out an extra $5.00 becaue of their problem? I don’t like the money coming out of my account and I have no control over that. I went from loving Redbox to I won’t ever use it again in a three week period.
Posted by:
Posted by: Jan Bradley on January 14, 2008 5:34 PM
I saw a Redbox and just stared at it for awhile.Then I just walked off.
Posted by: Bo on January 15, 2008 8:59 PM
I used Red Box once and was charged $52.50 for 2 movies that I never received. I have spent time over the last 3 weeks trying to resolve this to no avail. BUYER BEWARE!
Posted by: TommyO on February 4, 2008 9:44 AM
strangely enuff i’ve known nothing but good from these little machines … to the point … i rented a movie i never took back … got charged the 25.50 for it … 2 months later my GF finds it and takes it back on her way to work … ..and they gave me a dollar back …
its just to sad not to laugh!!
Posted by: Rusty on February 24, 2008 9:11 PM
I used the REDBOX in front of the McDonalds for my 1st time EVER in Kansas City,MO. on Prairie View Rd/Barry Road & it was very simple to use.UNFORTUNATELY, when I returned the movie in LESS THAN 24 hrs(before the 7pm deadline the following day) I was charged an extra $1 fee that’s pending on my debit card account ! I’m VERY DISSATISFIED & plan on contacting someone today on this matter ! I know it’s only $1, but I followed the guidelines advised & if this happens to multiple people (as I see this happening),there may start being lawsuits,etc. & I’m sure McDonalds would NOT want the publicity about this ! I will be driving up there today to discuss my complaint with them & if THEY’RE WISE about it-they will resolve these issues or they will NEVER get business (food or otherwise) from me & many family members & friends I will discuss this with !!! Word of mouth does ALOT for a company’s business, so they better be aware of these issues & START taking some action to CORRECT these ISSUES !!!
Posted by: alim on March 17, 2008 2:12 PM
I Posted by: VL on March 31, 2008 6:11 AM
Posted by: Mike on May 31, 2008 1:35 PM
If the RedBox machine fails to register a DVD return, it will charge you for every day until the video is rented again! This is debited from your card and good luck trying to get your money back! I will never rent from RedBox again – it’s next to impossible to get through on their 866 number and then customer service is powerless or they respond with sarcastic emails.
-Betty
Posted by: Betty on June 27, 2008 5:11 PM
I completly agree with the above blog, and when you call their “customer service” they are rude and condesending. We will never ever use Redbox again and we will let everyone we know how they treat customers.
-Eddie

Rent a movie for a dollar a night, return at any location by 9 PM the following day. Sound good? Only if they’re honest about it. I rented two at one location, returned both at another the next morning. Their automated system says it got one and that the other was returned a day later at a third location I didn’t know existed. They charged an extra dollar to my credit card and I spent more than that dollar’s worth of time on the phone (a half hour) to get a refund that never came. They apparently count on the extra charges not being worth the hassle to dispute. Save yourself the trouble and aggravation.

Nifty concept from an 800lb gorilla company that is trying to leverage its awful burger stores to do everything but sell hamburgers.
They’ve turned into a coffee house with espresso drinks to take business from the local coffee chains, now to a movie house to kill the local movie rental stores. What are they going to use these stores for next; laundry while you eat, hair and nails, tires, and every other local community retail service business? Ah, I get it, they are want to be “McRetailer”.
In reality there are only two viable movie delivery systems that will prevail; A less expensive PPV-HD model and Internet delivery. When cable and satellite get serious and drop their prices and when TV manufacturers integrate internet browsing capabilities on all TVs much like HD-Ready, the physical disk world dies as we know it. You cannot help but feel the physical disk delivery model is so 1990’s already.
As for my REDBOX experience, most summed it up; selection is king and “their redbox” is like “my box” of old “B” movies I have collected from the buy-one-get-one-free basket at Circuit City the last 5 years (RIP).
In reality, I get all of my “B” movies literally free using on-demand via my TV over the internet as part of my $10 NetFlix subscription. Best yet, No MickeyD burger, no MickeyD coffee, no pick-up, no next day return, no kidding.
As a side note about what McDonald’s is doing with their veiled, in-store retail expansion; somewhere there will be a retail revolt against them. City council’s across the country manage their city planning and balance their retail content for a variety of reasons. As McD continues to expand into retail businesses their restaurant permit was not approved for, you are likely to see some heads roll. Of course morphing into a coffee shop and video store likely won’t be it. But keep your eyes peeled on this one.
As for now, NetFlix is the best solution out there. I will say if they could address the “hum, I want to watch something spooky tonight” or “I want to watch that NOW” syndrome, and deliver all of their movies on-demand, they would own the market. Their web interface is tops.
Cheers all.

im here in calif. [orange county ] fullerton. ca i like the concept of the red box its across the street in albertsons grocery store .but red box has to market it better.it sits in a corner and know hardly knows about it. i have been passing the word

I think Redbox is great and for all the people that are complaining about being charged for their mistakes is hilairious. you get mad because YOU lost a movie and redbox won’t refund you get real. redbox doesnt even charge your card everyday. when I called in a very polite cust service rep told me you are charged when the movie is returned. if you lose it you have to pay $25 after 25 days. that seems fair enough to me. all of you saying blockbuster is cheaper, thats a lie and you know it. And so what if you have to wait on hold for a while, name one company that has answered your call in a second. I mean jeez people they only have one call center in the whole world.
Oh and the stupid person that got made because his wife finally found the unreturned movie later. you shouldnt have got your money back. you want them to refund you for your mistake how selfish.

I cannot believe how often the redboxes “Cannot receive returns at this time”.
They are unreliable, constantly forcing me to hunt for another one.
Finally finding another further down the road outside of 7/11, I feel unsafe standing there with my purse on arm…tonight…AGAIN…the box could not receive returns…I rented 3 more movies, then, tried to return my movie from last night, accidentally returning one I just rented. Had the machine taken the movie in the first place, THIS WOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED. So, now, at 10pm in a not so good neighborhood, I’m on the phone with redbox, trying to get a supervisor after a regular representative refused to credit a 3rd code to my email, and the supervisor also says they aren’t responsible. For $1, they lost a customer who quickly racked up almost 100 rentals. THEIR LOSS. I’m going to Blockbuster or Netflix.

Michael Yates –
I agree…I spent upwards of 1 HOUR waiting to speak to a supervisor who cashed in on my business by not giving ONE coupon code for all my trouble. I HOPE THEY SPEND THEIR BUCK WISELY. Good businesses recognize people as ‘customers for life’ and had they given that ONE coupon code…not even a refund…I could have given them sooo much more in future rentals. Obviously, I’m a heavy renter. Returning 1 and getting 3…I DID that all the time. NO MORE.

Be careful when renting from Red Box or Dvdplayer, if you return the dvd to the wrong kiosk and it takes it which even their tech support says that will happen you will be stuck with paying for the movie and you will not even have the luxury of getting to keep the movie. The one company will return it to the other and then you will be charged for the movie. I will not rent from these people anymore!

Yeah, I just got charged for not returning, which I did as always the very next morning. Even though it takes forever I stand and wait to make sure it says I returned the dvd, they also charged me when using a coupon, after their statement said there was no charge, seems something isn’t working with the system and you have no recourse but to deal with you credit card company as there is no help from red box at all. I will just forgo Red box from now on and if there is a movie I must see I will see it at the local theater or wait and see at the local dollar theater. Several machines are broken in the area and there is no one to call about it.
Red box turned out to be too good to be true.

QUOTE””””Be careful when renting from Red Box or Dvdplayer, if you return the dvd to the wrong kiosk and it takes it which even their tech support says that will happen you will be stuck with paying for the movie and you will not even have the luxury of getting to keep the movie. The one company will return it to the other and then you will be charged for the movie. I will not rent from these people anymore! “””END QUOTE
Yo! It’s Mcdonalds who ownz tha redbox.com company, they own lots of $$$$ and they put in a new POLICY effective A.S.A.P and it is as follows:
<In response to this paragarph^^^ Redbox will take the barcode of your rented DVD, copy/paste it and email it to the competitor (Take note to self of both rented and returned KIOSKS used); to enable a bucket surch of THAT specific kiosk via KIOSK I.D #(This number can b visually found upon the KIOSK by anyone), by a MS (Machine Support)onsite, where the dvd, easily can be seen inside by a M.S (Machine Support ONSITE)because of its different dvd packaging ((redbox)), picked out of the bucket and sent as PREPAID parcel back to the original vendor.
This is a policy so that you the customre will not be charged for any initial night fees, or shipping fees, for that matter, due to personal/competitor DVD’s in KIOSK.
Promo’s will be issued (Because of policy) due to the $0 charge policy of personal/competitor DVD. that is in place to cancel out any initial night fee. The M.S support would be to a machine in the next day.
All KIOSKS have policies, and the newest updated feature policy is haveing $0 charge on ANY of the competitor/personal DVD’s. Gauranteed.
THERE ARE ZERO $0 FEES FOR COMPETITOR/PERSONAL DVD.
That is a new policy and Friday I can copy/paste policy and copy paste it to this website ((((http://www.intuitive.com/blog/the_next_evolutionary_step_in_dvd_rentals_redbox.html)))) as a reply for the readers out there reading this just to prove that REDBOX is an excellent way to vend DVD’s. Deals?

Thank you for your horror stories. I was a little leary giving my credit card to a “coke machine”. What if there’s a glitch? It appears there are plenty of glitches and no one taking repsonsibility. I’ll be sure never to rent from Red Box.
I sure miss Sunburst Video, honest local chain killed by giant corporations.

I went to groupon.com as they claimed you could get a coupon for a three rentals at $1. The coupon came after the time had already expired so watch out for this scam as they are “processing my request”